Chapter 523 The Tragic Situation in the Imperial Capital

As Rostislav's son-in-law, Grigory's life in the palace over the past two years has not been easy.

In the eyes of the public, he is just a well-connected person who got lucky with his lower body. As for what abilities he has? No one expects him at all.

So Grigory has always wanted to do something, and the young noble wanted to prove his ability. However, in the past two years, Ross has been really stable, and there have been no major wars on the border.

The only big thing was the famine in the land behind the forest, but that was not a problem that a boy like Grigory could solve. In the end, it was his father Yang who went to solve the problem and pacified the area with force and food.

Chaos in the land where father-in-law made his fortune

Therefore, when the task of going to the imperial capital fell in front of him, Gregor immediately took over the task, which was just suitable for his situation.

On the day of departure, Cosenya came to say goodbye to her husband with a pregnant belly and tears in her eyes. The relationship between the couple has been very good since their marriage. Seeing his wife's lovely appearance, Grigory almost made a decision.

If you stay, don't you just have the reputation of eating soft rice? You can eat as long as you want. How many people want to eat this soft rice but there is no way.

But his male self-esteem finally prevailed, and he had to do something. He had to use his ability to prove that he was not a lucky person who was not worthy of his virtue.

So he set off with the Ross delegation, and by the way, he also brought 800 mercenaries urgently summoned by Kiev to fill the number of Varangian Guards.

This was Grigory's first mission to Constantinople, and the city left a deep impression on him. He was shocked by the sheer size of the city and the majesty of Constantinople's triple walls. As for what he saw from a distance,

Not to mention the Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome and the Grand Palace.

In many places, Rome has become a forgotten concept, but here, as the monarchs of the Eastern Empire wanted to tell people, Rome still exists and it is still glorious.

But after being shocked, Gregor couldn't help but think of the comment of a Vladimir Academy scholar he once met, "The Greeks are just pretending that they are still a world empire on the ruins of an ancient empire."

Just a monarch."

Thinking of this sentence, for some reason, his gaze towards the majestic city suddenly became much duller, and then he calmly led his team towards the majestic Golden Gate.

Although after Rostislav's nine-year conquest, the Russians obtained a series of privileges, including free entry into Constantinople, they still could not dock directly at the port of Constantinople and still needed to

Dock at the port outside the city.

After all, the Greeks were still on guard. It was absolutely impossible for the Russian fleet to dock at the city port. After all, if the Russians wanted to raid the imperial capital, they would have succeeded directly.

Gregor's team soon arrived under the Golden Gate. Along the way, they saw many refugees dragging their families towards Constantinople. There was no end in sight for the refugee team, and countless people were fleeing.

To the capital.

Gregor also understood some Greek roughly. From the chats of these people, he learned that these people came from the Thracian Plain, which was the main producer of food for Constantinople.

area, and this large-scale escape can only mean one thing, that is, the hinterland of the empire has become a hunting ground, a hunting ground for nomads.

In front of the Golden Gate, as foreign envoys and allies of the empire, the people of Gregorius naturally had privileges. The Greek soldiers roughly dispersed the crowds in front of the envoys, causing a lot of noise among the complaints, but the road was still there after all.

Freed up.

Amid complaints and fears from all sides, Gregor's team walked through the streets of the imperial capital. Refugees could be seen everywhere on the streets and alleys. Most of them had nothing to do, but they looked good. He had seen

Some people were distributing food, and it seemed that Constantinople's public system was adequate to handle these refugees.

There are armed guards at the entrance of every store, especially those near food stores, where there are even more guards.

This is the scene of a siege. Grigory is not unfamiliar with such scenes. As the son of Yang, he has been taught this by his father since he was a child, and he has also experienced several small-scale battles himself.

But it's one thing to be familiar with it, and it's another thing to face such a huge scene. Looking at these idle and desperate people, Gregor suddenly thought of his father-in-law's teachings.

"Don't underestimate the people, especially when they gather in groups. As long as they are willing, whatever stands in their way will be ruthlessly overthrown."

These words made Grigory feel uneasy. He also remembered the riots in Kiev that his father once mentioned, in which even the Grand Duke was driven away.

Looking at the refugees on the street, their eyes changed. He suddenly felt that the city was like an unstable kerosene barrel. If it was guided properly, the explosion would overturn everyone.

Although everything in the imperial capital seems to be controllable now, the existence of so many refugees is already extremely unstable. If the imperial government does not operate properly, then everything may really explode.

Such thoughts made Gregor lower his head and hurried to Blecher Palace to meet the emperor so that he could end all this and leave.

As it got closer to Brecher Palace, the surrounding environment became more stable. There were not so many refugees here, and the nearby residents were mainly middle- and upper-class people. Therefore, the atmosphere was very stable, which made Grigory adapt very well.

Next he met the emperor of the empire, Alexios Comnenos. The emperor gave him a good feeling. He was as majestic as the Roman emperors mentioned in the literature, but governing a country does not rely solely on majesty.

of.

At the ceremony to meet the emperor, Grigory said that the Grand Council of Russia would provide manpower in accordance with the agreement, but the problem was that it would take time to gather manpower. Rostislav's emergency recruitment of mercenaries from Russia only provided 800 people at the moment, and more people could be gathered.

Manpower takes time.

Grigory noticed that the emperor's face twitched unnaturally when he heard the news, but it disappeared in a flash, and Grigory almost thought he had seen it wrong.

Next, the emperor expressed the gratitude of the Grand Duke of Russia and asked Grigory to hand over the gold and silver handed over in accordance with the agreement. Then he expressed enthusiasm to the Russian envoy, saying that the entire Constantinople was open to the envoy to visit.

On the surface, Gregor naturally agreed, but in his heart he planned to leave here as soon as the matter was done. Who wants to stay in such a restless city for a long time.

However, after he left the palace, he was immediately entangled by a man who wanted to take him to the racecourse, but he had to go.

As for who this person was, it was his wife's brother, Vasilko Rostislavich.

Vasiliko was the only one of his wife's three brothers that Grigory had never met. After coming to Constantinople this time, he originally planned to visit him, but after seeing the restlessness in Constantinople, he

I just wanted to leave the city, but unexpectedly my wife's brother came running over first.

There was no other way, so Grigory could only follow him to the Grand Racecourse, and then he was able to witness a live barbecue. This was a regular program at the Grand Racecourse recently. The captured Pauline heretics would be grilled at the Grand Racecourse.

Burned to ashes, the charioteers will start the race amidst the ashes in the sky, and start racing amid the cheers of the charioteers.

"This is Rome, my brother-in-law."

Looking at the enthusiastic crowd, Vasiliko said with a sigh.

"……Yeah."

The brother-in-law's performance made Grigory a little confused. He finally said hesitantly that he knew Vasiliko's reputation. This man had always been immersed in books and would sometimes do some unreasonable things.

Now that I see it, it is indeed like this.

"I originally planned to study hard in the imperial capital, but now I have become a general who is constantly fighting on the battlefield. I guess I will not be able to leave the battlefield in the future. Destiny is really unpredictable."

Vasiliko's words made Grigory even more confused. Where is this? Did you bring me here just to express your feelings?

"In short, be prepared for everything to change at any time, my brother-in-law."

Vasiliko finally said this, and then he said nothing and continued to look at the madness below, while Grigory nodded thoughtfully as if he had thought of something.

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Chapter completed!